NEW BRUNSWICK — A North Brunswick police lieutenant pleaded guilty today to a charge of official misconduct, admitting he was on duty when he drove a sports car at high speed and endangered the life of a fellow police officer, who was killed when the car crashed, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced.

Keith R. Buckley, 45, admitted his conduct endangered the safety of the public and endangered the life of Lt. Christopher Zerby, who also served with the North Brunswick Police Department.

Buckley is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27, 2014 in New Brunswick to a three-year term in a New Jersey state prison with no chance for parole until he serves at least two years. The sentence will be imposed by Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz.

Under a plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Weiss, Buckley also will forfeit his job and pension and will be forever barred from holding a public job in New Jersey.

Buckley was charged after it was determined that he drove Lt. Zerby in a rented 2006 Dodge Viper on Route 130 in North Brunswick during work hours and crashed into a utility pole at 11:06 a.m. on August 12, 2008.

Lt. Zerby was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick at 11:44 a.m.